This year, Jewish Americans will be celebrating a holiday that won’t be happening again for a while – Thanksgivukkah.

“I’ve been a Rabbi for a long time, and I don’t recall this kind of thing here happening,” said Rabbi Cynthia Kravitz of Kesher Israel Congregation in West Chester.

For the first time since 1888, the first full day of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving will take place simultaneously. Kravitz said that the collision of the two holidays has been embraced by the Jewish community.

“In Thanksgiving, there are no religious overtones, so we can really embrace it,” said Kravitz. “It’s a pure American holiday.”

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She said that students at the congregation’s school spent the week leading into the first full day of Hanukkah creating menorahs that incorporated themes of Thanksgiving. Kravitz said even adults got involved in creating the menorahs. The “inventive” menorahs included turkeys with outstretched wings holding candles.

“That was really creative and fun,” said Kravitz.

While the weeks leading up to Hanukkah were filled with events, Rabbi Yossi Kaplan from Chabad-Lubavitch of Chester County said that the collision of holidays also meant that the congregation had to work around the travel-heavy holiday of Thanksgiving.

“In a program sense, it makes it kind of difficult,” Kaplan said. “I have to rethink things a bit.”

He said that events this year commemorating Hanukkah have been slightly moved around to accommodate travelers. He said things such as the giant menorah lighting in front of the Chester County Courthouse next Wednesday were planned to give those coming home ample time.

Kaplan said that while it made planning programs celebrating Hanukkah more difficult, the two holidays coming together likely will benefit families who will have the time off to be close to loved ones.

“Families and people will be getting together. They will have the chance to have dinner and light the menorah,” said Kaplan. “It’s a beautiful thing.”

This year’s Thanksgivukkah, as many are calling it, likely won’t happen again for a while. Experts said that the last time Thanksgiving and the first full day of Hanukkah occurred on the same day was in 1888, and predict it won’t happen again for another 70,000 years.

Both Kaplan and Kravitz said that the holidays share more than just a date.

Hanukkah, which began Wednesday night, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. The first dedication of the temple took place by King Solomon during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles, and was likely an inspiration for the rededication, said Kravitz. Sukkot is also rumored to have been an inspiration for the Pilgrims who looked to the Old Testament for a way to give thanks.

“So both of these holidays interface, inspired by Sukkot,” Kravitz said.

Kaplan said that Hanukkah “marks a period in time which was very much about thanksgiving.”

“A lot of the messages are similar,” he said.

With or without the same date, the two holidays are a time for people to be thankful, said both Kravitz and Kaplan.

“Giving thanks is a part of all Jewish living, even when there’s no interface with Hanukkah” said Kravitz. “But this year we get to have Thanksgivukkah.”